About the Author

The late Leonard J. Arrington was Lemuel Redd Professor of Western History at Brigham Young University, LDS Church Historian, director of the LDS Historical Department, and director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute of Church History at BYU. A founding member and past president of the Western History Association, he was the author of over twenty books. Ronald W. Walker is a professor of history at Brigham Young University and author of Qualities that Count: Heber J. Grant as Businessman, Missionary, and Apostle and Wayward Saints: The Godeites and Brigham Young.

Reviews

"A masterful account of the politics and practices that enabled Mormons to settle in the hostile environment of the Great Basin."--The Christian Century
"A landmark book."--David Brion Davis, New York Review of Books "Easily the most informative single volume yet published on the Mormons in Utah. It is economic history written in proper fashion, by an author who never forgets that economic factors cannot be studied in isolation from the prevailing social, intellectual, and political climate."--Rodman W. Paul, Mississippi Valley Historical Review "Arrington's most important book."--Thomas G. Alexander, Journal of American History